John Kirby Laboratory

Welcome!

Welcome to the laboratory of John Kirby, PhD, at The University of Iowa Department of Microbiology.

Research

Our major areas of investigation focus on signal transduction in diverse bacteria ranging from soil dwelling spore formers, Bacillus subtilis and Myxococcus xanthus, to biofilm forming pathogens, to microbial communities in the gut.

We are taking a systems biology approach to characterize a family of two-component system homologs for their role during biofilm formation and predation by M. xanthus. Our primary area of interest aims to decipher cross-regulation between highly similar pairs of NtrB-NtrC homologs for their control of motility and development in M. xanthus.

In addition, we are actively investigating interactions between M. xanthus and B. subtilis as a model for predator-prey interactions in vivo. Our primary goal here is to assess the role of production of secondary metabolites on both sides of the predator-prey equation.

Finally, we have also been examining the role of xenobiotics for their capacity to disrupt the gut microbiota with deleterious consequences on metabolism. Currently, we utilize the Illumina platform to obtain 16s rDNA sequence information and analyze those data using QIIME (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology) open source software. We are employing the use of total calorimetry to assess metabolic defects in mice following perturbation with xenobiotics.

For all projects, we are working with collaborators to generate mathematical models to describe how small molecules can elicit shifts in microbial populations.